Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests.

This is a quote from Thomas Jefferson and “…although not the most wise depository” is my emphasis. It’s also the thought that has been coming to mind recently.

Common people are by definition not “the best” so it’s understandable there will be those who think normal people are not capable of governing themselves. However a frequent component of common people is the ability to recognize the limits of their talents, which will often result in the restraint of humility along with a capacity to understand the faltering limits of others.

“There but for the grace of God go I” would be a phrase more comfortable in the conversation of a common man than an academic “public servant”. And why shouldn’t it be since we’ve all but dismissed the topic of God from our public forums.

Trust me on this – the greatest powers of God are reserved for the weak and the humble. And the opposite is very much true as well – pride is a nearly insurmountable obstacle to receiving God’s grace.

So while the common man is not the best at everything, he has a resource available that may as well be considered a secret weapon in the eyes of those who would look down upon him. And that weapon is the grace of God.

This is one of the best suggestions for education reform that I’ve ever seen. It’s balanced, including items as diverse as Islamic religious studies, home schooling, as well as a point blank look at staring down teacher unions.

Yeah, but what about the teacher unions… face it, decisions like this are ALWAYS relegated to whether a teacher union will allow it. The real crime is a media that then allows teacher unions to hide behind the faux nobility of being concerned about kids. What a load of crap.

Love this quote:

“There are some [students] that really have a great 12th grade, but you talk to 100 kids and their parents, and I believe the majority of them will say, ‘Well, my kid didn’t do much in the 12th grade,'” Buttars said. “Everybody wants to talk about change … But to tell you the truth, they’re scared to death of it.”